Accolade

The accolade (also known as dubbing, adoubement, or knighting) (Latin: benedictio militis) was the central act in the rite of passage ceremonies conferring knighthood in the Middle Ages.

[7] An early Germanic coming-of-age ceremony, of presenting a youth with a weapon that was buckled on him, was elaborated in the 10th and 11th centuries as a sign that the minor had come of age.

A panel in the Bayeux Tapestry shows the knighting of Harold by William of Normandy, but the specific gesture is not clearly represented.

In medieval France, early ceremonies of the adoubement were purely secular and indicated a young noble coming of age.

Around 1200, these ceremonies began to include elements of Christian ritual (such as a night spent in prayers, prior to the rite ).

[8] The increasingly impressive ceremonies surrounding adoubement figured largely in the Romance literature, both in French and in Middle English, particularly those set in the Trojan War or around the legendary personage of Alexander the Great.

[1] The monarch then raises the sword just up over the apprentice's head, flips it counterclockwise so that the same side of the blade will come in contact with the knight's body, and places it on his left shoulder.